National Policy on Education
The National Policy on Education (NPE) is a policy formulated by the Government of India to promote education amongst India's people. The policy covers elementary education to colleges in both rural and urban India. The first NPE was promulgated in 1968 by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the second by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. It emphasizes three aspects in relation to elementary education:
· universal access and enrolment,
· universal retention of children up to 14 years of age, and
· a substantial improvement in the quality of education to enable all children to achieve
· Revival of Sanskrit and other classical languages for contemporary use
History
Since the nation's independence in 1947, the Indian government sponsored a variety of programmes to address the problems of illiteracy in both rural and urban India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first Minister of Education, envisaged strong central government control over education throughout the country, with a uniform educational system. The Union government established the University Education Commission (1948–1949) and the Secondary Education Commission (1952–1953) to develop proposals to modernise India's education system. The Resolution on Scientific Policy was adopted by the government of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The Nehru government sponsored the development of high-quality scientific education institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology. In 1961, the Union government formed the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) as an autonomous organisation that would advise both the Union and state governments on formulating and implementing education policies.[1]
1968
Based on the report and recommendations of the Education Commission (1964–1966), the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced the first National Policy on Education in 1968, which called for a "radical restructuring" and equalise educational opportunities in order to achieve national integration and greater cultural and economic development.[2] The policy called for fulfilling compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14, as stipulated by the Constitution of India, and the better training and qualification of teachers.[2] The policy called for focus on learning of regional languages, outlining the "three language formula" to be implemented in secondary education - the instruction of the English language, the official language of the state where the school was based, and Hindi, the national language.[2] Language education was seen as essential to reduce the gulf between the intelligentsia and the masses. Although the decision to adopt Hindi as the national language had proven controversial, the policy called for use and learning of Hindi to be encouraged uniformly to promote a common language for all Indians.[2] The policy also encouraged the teaching of the ancient Sanskrit language, which was considered an essential part of India's culture and heritage. The NPE of 1968 called for education spending to increase to six percent of the national income.[2] As of 2013, the NPE 1968 has moved location on the national website. [3]
1986
Having announced that a new policy was in development in January, 1985, the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi introduced a new National Policy on Education in May, 1986.[4] The new policy called for "special emphasis on the removal of disparities and to equalise educational opportunity," especially for Indian women, Scheduled Tribes (ST) and the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.[4] To achieve these, the policy called for expanding scholarships, adult education, recruiting more teachers from the SCs, incentives for poor families to send their children to school regularly, development of new institutions and providing housing and services.[4] The NPE called for a "child-centered approach" in primary education, and launched "Operation Blackboard" to improve primary schools nationwide.[5] The policy expanded the Open University system with the Indira Gandhi National Open University, which had been created in 1985.[5] The policy also called for the creation of the "rural university" model, based on the philosophy of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, to promote economic and social development at the grassroots level in rural India robin.[5]
The National Policy on Education (NPE) is a policy formulated by the Government of India to promote education amongst India's people. The policy covers elementary education to colleges in both rural and urban India. The first NPE was promulgated in 1968 by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the second by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. It emphasizes three aspects in relation to elementary education:
· universal access and enrolment,
· universal retention of children up to 14 years of age, and
· a substantial improvement in the quality of education to enable all children to achieve
· Revival of Sanskrit and other classical languages for contemporary use
History
Since the nation's independence in 1947, the Indian government sponsored a variety of programmes to address the problems of illiteracy in both rural and urban India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first Minister of Education, envisaged strong central government control over education throughout the country, with a uniform educational system. The Union government established the University Education Commission (1948–1949) and the Secondary Education Commission (1952–1953) to develop proposals to modernise India's education system. The Resolution on Scientific Policy was adopted by the government of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The Nehru government sponsored the development of high-quality scientific education institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology. In 1961, the Union government formed the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) as an autonomous organisation that would advise both the Union and state governments on formulating and implementing education policies.[1]
1968
Based on the report and recommendations of the Education Commission (1964–1966), the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced the first National Policy on Education in 1968, which called for a "radical restructuring" and equalise educational opportunities in order to achieve national integration and greater cultural and economic development.[2] The policy called for fulfilling compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14, as stipulated by the Constitution of India, and the better training and qualification of teachers.[2] The policy called for focus on learning of regional languages, outlining the "three language formula" to be implemented in secondary education - the instruction of the English language, the official language of the state where the school was based, and Hindi, the national language.[2] Language education was seen as essential to reduce the gulf between the intelligentsia and the masses. Although the decision to adopt Hindi as the national language had proven controversial, the policy called for use and learning of Hindi to be encouraged uniformly to promote a common language for all Indians.[2] The policy also encouraged the teaching of the ancient Sanskrit language, which was considered an essential part of India's culture and heritage. The NPE of 1968 called for education spending to increase to six percent of the national income.[2] As of 2013, the NPE 1968 has moved location on the national website. [3]
1986
Having announced that a new policy was in development in January, 1985, the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi introduced a new National Policy on Education in May, 1986.[4] The new policy called for "special emphasis on the removal of disparities and to equalise educational opportunity," especially for Indian women, Scheduled Tribes (ST) and the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.[4] To achieve these, the policy called for expanding scholarships, adult education, recruiting more teachers from the SCs, incentives for poor families to send their children to school regularly, development of new institutions and providing housing and services.[4] The NPE called for a "child-centered approach" in primary education, and launched "Operation Blackboard" to improve primary schools nationwide.[5] The policy expanded the Open University system with the Indira Gandhi National Open University, which had been created in 1985.[5] The policy also called for the creation of the "rural university" model, based on the philosophy of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, to promote economic and social development at the grassroots level in rural India robin.[5]
National Policy on Education - Review Committees
The implementation of the National Policy on Education 1986 was evaluated by two committees namely the Ramamurti Committee (1990) and the Janardhana Reddy Committee (1992). As a result of the recommendations of these two committees, slight modifications were made in the NPE in 1992.
Ramamurti Review Committee (1990)
Despite efforts at social and economic development, a majority of our people continue to remain deprived of education, which is one of the basic needs for human development. Government accords the highest priority to education – both as human right and as the means for bringing about a transformation towards a more humane and enlightened society. The National Policy on Education, 1986 would enable the country to move towards this perspective of education. The government therefore, decided to set up the NPE Review Committee. That Committee for Review is popularly known as Ramamurti Review Committee after the name Acharya Ramamurti, the chairman of the committee. The committee was appointed on May 7, 1990 and the report was tabled in the Parliament on January 9, 1991.
The approach of the committee in reviewing the NPE,1986 and its implementation has been guided by the following concerns:
· Equity and social justice
. Decentralization of educational management at all levels
. Establishment of a participative educational order
. Inculnation of values indispensable for creation of an enlightened and humane society
. Empowerment of work
The following are the major recommendations:
1. Development of a common school system: a very vital component for securing equity and social justice in education is the functioning of a common school system. In order to achieve this objective, the existing Government schools and schools aided by local bodies have to be transformed through quality improvement, into genuine neighborhood schools.
2. Removing disparities in education: the rural areas in general and the tribal areas in particular, have suffered in terms of resources, personnel and infrastructure facilities. Therefore the need of the hour is planning for, and implementation of, educational development programmes in terms of disintegrated targets, area, community and gender specific activities.
3. Promotion of women education: inorder to promote participation of the girls and women in education at all levels, there is need for an integrated approach in designing and implementing the schemes that would address all the factors that inhibit their education.
4. Value education: Value education is to be conceived as a continuous process. Value education should ensure that education does not alienate the students from the family, community and life.
5. Early childhood care and education (ECCE): the scope of the constitutional Directive (Article 45) should be enlarged to include ECCE.
6. Right to education: Right to Education should be examined for inclusion among the fundamental rights.
7. Operation Black board: the state governments should develop all decision making power concerning operation black board for planning and implementing the scheme.
8. Navodaya Vidyalayas: the committee recommends that the Government may take an appropriate decision from out of the following three alternatives:
. No further Navodaya Vidyalaya need be opened. The existing 261 Navodaya Vidyalayas may be restructured and continued with provision of adequate resources.
. All the existing 261 Navodaya Vidyalayas may be transferred to the state sector for the states to run them as residential centres on the Andhra Pradesh model.
. The Navodaya Vidyalaya scheme may be transformed into a Navodaya Vidyalaya programme of broad based talent nurturing and pace setting ( A day school each under the Common School system can function in the premises of Navodaya Vidyalayas).
9. Work experiences/ SUPW: work experience or socially useful Productive Work should be integrally linked with various subjects both at the level of content and pedagogy.
10. Resources for education: the first step should be to provide for at least 6% of the GNP for education. All technical and professional education should be made self financing.
Janardhana Reddy Committee or CABE Committee (1992)
The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) in its meeting held on 8-9 March, 1991 examined the procedure to be adopted for consideration of the report of the Ramamurti Review Committee and decided that a CABE committee to be constituted to consider the recommendations of the Ramamurthi Committee. The CABE committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Sri.Janardhana Reddy on 31st July, 1991 to review the implementation of the various parameters of NPE taking into consideration the report of the Ramamurti Review Committee.
The major recommendations of that committee are listed below:
1. Common School system: effective measures need to be taken to implement the provision of NPE in regard to common school system. To this end, disparities between schools should be ended as early as possible by upgrading the quality of ordinary schools and providing amenities for achieving minimum levels of learning.
2. Navodaya Vidyalayas:The scheme should continue and a Navodaya Vidyalaya should be set up in each district as originally envisaged. Further, the following measures are suggested.
. Constant review to keep the scheme as cost effective as possible.
. Ensuring the continued validity and reliability of the admission tests by periodic evaluation and appropriate modification of admission procedures, and
. More particular attention to the pace-setting role of these institutions.
3. ECCE: the scope of Article 45 of the constitution need not be enlarged. The Anganawadi workers should play an expanded role for a number of activities and support services for women and children, such as child care, family welfare, nutrition and health.
4. Universalisation of elementary Education: what is needed is not so much a constitutional amendment as suggested by Ramamurti Committee as a manifestation of a national will to achieve UEE. Operation Black board, being one of the priorities strategies for UEE, should continue during the vii plan, in an expanded and extended form.
5. Adult and continuing education: the ‘dual track approach’ of promoting simultaneously UEE and adult literacy should continue in educational planning. Programmes of post- literacy and continuing education should be planned for neo-literates.
6. Secondary Education: it would be necessary to bring about a planned expansion of secondary education facilities all over the country to cope with new demands for secondary education. Open learning should be given utmost encouragement.
7. Vocationalisation of Education: the existing vocational stream at the +2 level may be suitably strengthened and, wherever possible, the vocational courses may be started from class ix also. The idea of core vocational course is attractive. The work experience programme should have practical orientation in relation to various subjects.
8. Management of Education: the idea of educational complex may be tried on an experimental basis in selected areas. The District Board of Education should be set up and operationalised expeditiously. Constitution of specialized stale level education Tribunal is desirable. “Making the system work” has to be treated as non negotiable. Formulation and Implementation of an Action Plan to put into practice the strategy outlined in the NPE is strongly recommended.
9. Resources for Education: the practice of teaching education as a residual sector in the matter of allocation of resources should be reversed. Need based financing has to be provided for priority areas like UEE, Adult Literacy and vocationalisation. Higher education and technical and management education has to be progressively made largely self- financing by revising the fee structure with appropriate support to the needy students by way of student loans.
Considering the reports of the two Review Committees, NPE, 1986 was revised in 1992 with an addition of two paras and modification of 31 paras.
The implementation of the National Policy on Education 1986 was evaluated by two committees namely the Ramamurti Committee (1990) and the Janardhana Reddy Committee (1992). As a result of the recommendations of these two committees, slight modifications were made in the NPE in 1992.
Ramamurti Review Committee (1990)
Despite efforts at social and economic development, a majority of our people continue to remain deprived of education, which is one of the basic needs for human development. Government accords the highest priority to education – both as human right and as the means for bringing about a transformation towards a more humane and enlightened society. The National Policy on Education, 1986 would enable the country to move towards this perspective of education. The government therefore, decided to set up the NPE Review Committee. That Committee for Review is popularly known as Ramamurti Review Committee after the name Acharya Ramamurti, the chairman of the committee. The committee was appointed on May 7, 1990 and the report was tabled in the Parliament on January 9, 1991.
The approach of the committee in reviewing the NPE,1986 and its implementation has been guided by the following concerns:
· Equity and social justice
. Decentralization of educational management at all levels
. Establishment of a participative educational order
. Inculnation of values indispensable for creation of an enlightened and humane society
. Empowerment of work
The following are the major recommendations:
1. Development of a common school system: a very vital component for securing equity and social justice in education is the functioning of a common school system. In order to achieve this objective, the existing Government schools and schools aided by local bodies have to be transformed through quality improvement, into genuine neighborhood schools.
2. Removing disparities in education: the rural areas in general and the tribal areas in particular, have suffered in terms of resources, personnel and infrastructure facilities. Therefore the need of the hour is planning for, and implementation of, educational development programmes in terms of disintegrated targets, area, community and gender specific activities.
3. Promotion of women education: inorder to promote participation of the girls and women in education at all levels, there is need for an integrated approach in designing and implementing the schemes that would address all the factors that inhibit their education.
4. Value education: Value education is to be conceived as a continuous process. Value education should ensure that education does not alienate the students from the family, community and life.
5. Early childhood care and education (ECCE): the scope of the constitutional Directive (Article 45) should be enlarged to include ECCE.
6. Right to education: Right to Education should be examined for inclusion among the fundamental rights.
7. Operation Black board: the state governments should develop all decision making power concerning operation black board for planning and implementing the scheme.
8. Navodaya Vidyalayas: the committee recommends that the Government may take an appropriate decision from out of the following three alternatives:
. No further Navodaya Vidyalaya need be opened. The existing 261 Navodaya Vidyalayas may be restructured and continued with provision of adequate resources.
. All the existing 261 Navodaya Vidyalayas may be transferred to the state sector for the states to run them as residential centres on the Andhra Pradesh model.
. The Navodaya Vidyalaya scheme may be transformed into a Navodaya Vidyalaya programme of broad based talent nurturing and pace setting ( A day school each under the Common School system can function in the premises of Navodaya Vidyalayas).
9. Work experiences/ SUPW: work experience or socially useful Productive Work should be integrally linked with various subjects both at the level of content and pedagogy.
10. Resources for education: the first step should be to provide for at least 6% of the GNP for education. All technical and professional education should be made self financing.
Janardhana Reddy Committee or CABE Committee (1992)
The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) in its meeting held on 8-9 March, 1991 examined the procedure to be adopted for consideration of the report of the Ramamurti Review Committee and decided that a CABE committee to be constituted to consider the recommendations of the Ramamurthi Committee. The CABE committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Sri.Janardhana Reddy on 31st July, 1991 to review the implementation of the various parameters of NPE taking into consideration the report of the Ramamurti Review Committee.
The major recommendations of that committee are listed below:
1. Common School system: effective measures need to be taken to implement the provision of NPE in regard to common school system. To this end, disparities between schools should be ended as early as possible by upgrading the quality of ordinary schools and providing amenities for achieving minimum levels of learning.
2. Navodaya Vidyalayas:The scheme should continue and a Navodaya Vidyalaya should be set up in each district as originally envisaged. Further, the following measures are suggested.
. Constant review to keep the scheme as cost effective as possible.
. Ensuring the continued validity and reliability of the admission tests by periodic evaluation and appropriate modification of admission procedures, and
. More particular attention to the pace-setting role of these institutions.
3. ECCE: the scope of Article 45 of the constitution need not be enlarged. The Anganawadi workers should play an expanded role for a number of activities and support services for women and children, such as child care, family welfare, nutrition and health.
4. Universalisation of elementary Education: what is needed is not so much a constitutional amendment as suggested by Ramamurti Committee as a manifestation of a national will to achieve UEE. Operation Black board, being one of the priorities strategies for UEE, should continue during the vii plan, in an expanded and extended form.
5. Adult and continuing education: the ‘dual track approach’ of promoting simultaneously UEE and adult literacy should continue in educational planning. Programmes of post- literacy and continuing education should be planned for neo-literates.
6. Secondary Education: it would be necessary to bring about a planned expansion of secondary education facilities all over the country to cope with new demands for secondary education. Open learning should be given utmost encouragement.
7. Vocationalisation of Education: the existing vocational stream at the +2 level may be suitably strengthened and, wherever possible, the vocational courses may be started from class ix also. The idea of core vocational course is attractive. The work experience programme should have practical orientation in relation to various subjects.
8. Management of Education: the idea of educational complex may be tried on an experimental basis in selected areas. The District Board of Education should be set up and operationalised expeditiously. Constitution of specialized stale level education Tribunal is desirable. “Making the system work” has to be treated as non negotiable. Formulation and Implementation of an Action Plan to put into practice the strategy outlined in the NPE is strongly recommended.
9. Resources for Education: the practice of teaching education as a residual sector in the matter of allocation of resources should be reversed. Need based financing has to be provided for priority areas like UEE, Adult Literacy and vocationalisation. Higher education and technical and management education has to be progressively made largely self- financing by revising the fee structure with appropriate support to the needy students by way of student loans.
Considering the reports of the two Review Committees, NPE, 1986 was revised in 1992 with an addition of two paras and modification of 31 paras.